In five days, Frankie Edgar steps into the octagon at UFC 200 to face Jose Aldo for the interim featherweight title.
Conor McGregor's preoccupation with getting revenge against Nate Diaz forced to UFC to commission the fight. Presumably, sometime later this year, the winner will face McGregor in a unification bout.
It's nearly three and a half years since Edgar last lost in the octagon - that was to Jose Aldo, a unanimous decision title fight loss at UFC 156. Since then, Edgar has repositioned himself as one of the leading contenders in the featherweight division to face McGregor. Just a day before Aldo and McGregor faced off at UFC 194, Edgar KO'd Chad Mendes.
Of course, Aldo's last defeat came much more recently. That 13-second KO loss to Conor McGregor in December.
The nature of the defeat, Aldo's first in a decade, leads Frankie to believe it may have detrimentally affected the Brazilian's confidence.
Edgar spoke to Fox Sports ahead of this weekend's fight.
It has to mess with you. Close losses mess with you, never mind getting knocked out with one punch. Especially to a guy like Conor, who is going to relish in it the way he does and talk about it the way he does, no one's better than him with that. I don't want to say it was embarrassing because it can happen to anybody, but for Aldo, I think it was a little embarrassing. To be on top for so long and then have it happen like that to that guy. That's definitely got to mess with him.
